10 Obamacare Fumbles

There have been a lot of justifications offered for delaying the employer mandate.  In particular, supporters point out that it helps the administration focus on getting other parts of the program right.  But two points: 1) the administration really didn't have the right to delay implementation and 2) they have already delayed a lot of the law.  The list is from The Hill newspaper (though I have added a couple reasons that they forgot):

1. The CLASS Act - long term care act could not be implemented as written 

2. The federal insurance exchange - no budget whatsoever for the federally run exchanges 

3. The employer mandate - delayed for a year 

4. The small-business exchange - delayed for a year 

5. Waivers - HHS approved more than 1,200 waivers, let Republicans point out that the law was unworkable, and waivers given out to Obama's friends 

6. 1099 - first ObamaCare provision to be repealed, mandate compelled businesses to report nearly all transactions worth more than $600 to the IRS 

7. Child-only plans - insurers quit writing new policies just for children rather than bear the additional costs. 

8. PCIP - the pre-existing conditions program first ran into problems because people weren't joining the program.  The Obama administration dramatically lowered the insurance premiums and was able to bribe people to join the program so as not to make it look like there wasn't a need for it. 

9. The Basic Health Plan - delayed implementation until 2015 for a provision that would let states bargain directly with insurance companies to create a scaled-down plan for people who aren’t eligible for Medicaid but might not be able to afford the more expensive private plans sold through the exchanges.  Not allowing this helped guaranteed higher prices. 

10. ObamaCare for congressional staff

Note some of the collateral problems caused by these delays.  For example, as Rich Lowry notes:

it’s “full steam ahead” with the health-care exchanges this October. Never mind that determining eligibility for the exchanges depends on employers reporting their insurance offerings — reporting that now won’t happen. . . .